Exhibitions:

  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: An Exhibition to Commemorate the Centenary of Derby Museums and Art Gallery
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 21/04/1979 to 21/07/1979
  • Title: Drawings by Joseph Wright of Derby
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 31/03/1990 to 22/04/1990
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734-1797: Bicentenary Exhibition
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 21/06/1997 to 28/09/1997
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Life on Paper
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 23/05/2025 to 07/09/2025

Publications

  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby 1734 - 1797
    Sub-Title: An introduction to the work of Joseph Wright of Derby with a catalogue of drawings held by Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Published on the occasion of an exhibition commemorating the Bicentenary of the artist's death.
    Published Place: Derby
    Published Year: 1997
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light
    Sub-Title: Volume 1
    Volume: 1
    Published Place: London
    Copyright: Benedict Nicolson, 1968
    Published Year: 1968
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light
    Sub-Title: Volume 2
    Volume: 2
    Published Place: New Haven and London
    Published Year: 1968

Related People

  • Elizabeth Pole (Content)

    Display Date: died 1832

  • Sacheverel Pole (Content)

    Display Date: British, 1769 - 1813

    Nationality: British

  • Joseph Wright of Derby (Artist)

    Display Date: British, 1734 - 1797

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Artist.

  • Edward Galton Wheler (Association)

    Display Date: British, 1850 - 1935

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Land agent, land owner, and magistrate. Son of Edward and Elizabeth Anne Wheler; a grandson of Samuel Tertius Galton. Married Mary Louisa Dugdale (1863/4–1955) in 1890. Estate agent in High Legh, Cheshire, 1881; commissioner to the duke of Northumberland in Alnwick, 1891, 1901; retired to Claverdon Leys, Warwickshire, by 1911. Assumed the additional name of Galton in 1913. [source: Darwin Correspondence Project online, accessed 13 December 2024: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=nameregs/nameregs_8781.xml&query=Wheler]

  • Emma Sophia Galton (Association)

    Display Date: British, 1811 - 1904

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Daughter of Samuel Tertius Galton and Violetta Galton, née Darwin. Sister of Francis Galton (1822–1911). Therefore grand-daughter of Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802).

Study for a Portrait of Elizabeth Pole and her Son Sacheverel

Date: c. 1771

Medium: Gouache and sepia ink over pencil on paper.

Object Type:painting
Dimensions:Support: 464 × 299 mm (18 1/4 × 11 3/4 in.)
Description:The study was made in preparation for an oil painting that is signed and dated 1771. This is still in situ at Radbourne Hall. [see B. Nicolson, 'Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light' (1968), vol. 1, pp.4-5, 37, 108-109] BN notes the similarity to Romney’s work (and the grand manner portraits of other London artists), but feels Wright surpasses Romney [see 1968, p.37]. Nicolson noted that the study was inscribed on the verso: 'E.G. Wheler from E.S. Galton.' [see B. Nicolson, 'Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light' (1968), p.217.] E.G. Wheler may be: Edward Galton Wheler (1850–1913) - Edward Galton Wheler-Galton (1913–1935) (1850–1935). E.S. Galton may be: Emma Sophia Galton (1811–1904), grand-daughter of Erasmus Darwin. The inscription may suggest that the study was passed around in the Galton family. Study for the portrait of 'Elizabeth, wife of Edward Sacheverell Pole and her son Sacheverell' 1771 (private collection). The finished portrait, although instantly recognisable from this study, shows some changes. The small dog, shown bottom right, was replaced in the oil painting with a much larger Springer Spaniel facing left with its head turned towards the child. Wright excelled in placing his portrait subjects in realistic situations. This composition with its low viewpoint and its lofty, classical, but impersonal setting, succeeds in conveying the status of the subject but is charmingly undercut by the obvious delight, and human tenderness the child shows for the little dog. The subject, upon widowhood, was later to marry Wright's friend, physician and polymath Erasmus Darwin. [see J. Wallis, 'Joseph Wright of Derby' (1997), p.68. The study is mentioned in a letter from Francis Galton (1822-1911), to his cousin Charles Robert Darwin (1809–1882), of 7 June 1879: We have at last an opportunity of getting a photo of her likeness for Emma has heard this very morning from Derby (from Mrs. Woollett Wilmot) that the original study for the Radbarn picture of her, exists among the numerous scraps & sketches made by Wright the painter, and now in possession of his great grand-daughter— It is a rough affair, partly in oil partly in water colour— We have permission to get it photographed & I write by this post to order 2 for myself, one of which you shall have, (besides I have made a bid for the sketch itself.) [see Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12094,” accessed on 13 December 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12094.xml] Wright’s great-granddaughter has not been identified. Wright’s sketch for the portrait, in gouache, was evidently purchased by Galton. It was among a lot obtained by the National Portrait Gallery from the ‘Galton sale in Warwick’ in 1954, and subsequently acquired by Derby Museums. [LB: 2024]
Inscriptions:Inscribed on plinth: 'Purple and / Straw'.
Provenance:?possibly by descent through the artist's family (noted as being in the possession of a great grand-daughter of Joseph Wright in a letter from Francis Galton to Charles Darwin, June 7, 1879); purchased by Francis Galton; Galton sale (sale of the contents of The Leys, Claverdon, Warwickshire) in October 1954; contained within a lot acquired by the National Portrait Gallery from this sale; purchased as part of a larger lot by the National Portrait Gallery and transferred to Derby Museums in 1954.
Viewing Status:Contact Us
Item Ref:1954-249
Browse Collection
Browse Collection